Hay or grain gathering machine.



T. s. HAMILTON. HAY 0R GRAIN GATHERING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR'.-12,1911.

Patented A r. 9, 1912.

"Earl Wi-Ja E5385,

55 teeth sup-ported thereon.

irrrn STATES PATNT FFICE.

HAY OR GRAIN GATHERING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

Application filed April 12, 1911. Serial No. 620,551.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that-I, THOMAS S. HAMILTON, citizen of the United States,residing at King City, in the county of Monterey and 5 State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hay or GrainGathering Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a hay-gathering machine.

It is the object of this invention to provide a hay-gathering machinewhich is simple in construction and operation, and which is adapted tocollect scattered hay and deposit it in cocks preparatory to loading andstacking or baling.

A further object is to provide means in a a hay-gathering machine foreasily and quickly throwing the gathering parts out of this operativeposition and for controlling the movements of a conveyer.

Another object is to provide means for collecting the gathered hay onthe machine and delivering it therefrom in bunches.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combinationof parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, havingreference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical,longitudinal section of the invention. Fig. 2'is a detail side elevationof the accelerator. Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation of the clutchmechanism for controlling the movement of the conveyer. Fig. 4 is avertical section on the line XX, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail in elevationof the end-gate locking device. Fig. 6 is a sectional detail on the lineVV of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, A represents the machine carriage which is mounted on apair of truck-wheels 2, only one of which is shown, disposed rearward ofthe lateral center of the carriage; a caster-wheel 3 being pro- .videdat a point on the longitudinal center of the underside of the carriage Ain front of the truck-wheels 2. The casterwheel 3 and the truck-wheels 2comprise the runhing-gear, on which the machine carriage A is adapted totravel.

Mounted on the carriage A adjacent toits forward end is a rock-shaft 4:,which extends laterally across the underside of the carriage frame andhas a number of rake- The rake-teeth 5 extend forward of the rock-shaft4 with their outer ends normally resting on the ground; the inner endsof the teeth projecting a short distance rearward of the rockshaft andterminating over the lower end of a conveyer. The teeth 5 are here shownas mounted on a board 6 which is attached to the roclrshaft 4 in anysuitable manner; this board 6 extending beneath the teeth 5 parallelwith the shaft 4 and adjacent to the upper ends thereof.

Supported in suitable bearings mounted on the underside of the end teeth5 is a revoluble shaft 7 which extends beneath the teeth 5 parallel withthe rock-shaft 4, and is connected at its outer ends to connecting rods8 (only one of which is shown), which rods extend upward and areattached attheir upper ends to crank arms 9 mounted on a rock-shaft 10.This shaft 10 is de-' signed to be rocked by means of a handlever 11, soas to elevate the outer ends of the rake-teeth 5 clear of the ground;the lever 11 being engaged by a hook 12 to retain it in a fixed positionin opposition to the weight of the teeth 5 when the latter are in theirraised position.

Mounted on the revoluble shaft 7 in the space separating each rake-tooth5 is an accelerator which consists of radially disposed curved blades13, the outer ends of which blades, when rotated, project a shortdistance above the upper face of the adjacent teeth 5 these blades 13being adapted to accelerat-e the upward movement of hay picked up by therake-teeth 5 and forced to travel upward over the teeth 5 as thecarriage A moves forward. The accelerating blades 13 thus permit the haypiling up and collecting on the teeth 5 and also insures a steady feedor discharge of the hay over the upper ends of the teeth on to theconveyer. The shaft 7, carrying the blades 13 is rotated by means of asprocket chain 14, which passes around a sprocket wheel 15 on the shaft7 and around a sprocket wheel 16 on a revoluble shaft 17 disposedbeneath the carriage A adjacent to, and parallel with the rock-shaft 4c.

The conveyer, previously mentioned, consists of a pair of spaced,parallel,sprocket chains 18 (only one of which is shown), which passaroimd sprocket wheels 19 on the shaft 17 and around similar sprocketwheels 20 on a revoluble shaft 21 disposed above, and parallel with, theshaft 17 and rearward thereof; aseries of slats 22 being mounted on thechains 18 in such manner that when the chains 18 are revolved, the slats22 will engage the hay discharged over the upper ends of the teeth 5 andcarry it up and discharge it over the shaft 21 into. a hopper or bin Bformed on the carriage A. The shaft 21 has a friction disk 23 mountedthereon, which is adapted to be engaged by a similar disk 24 revolublymounted on a gudgeon 25 formed on a lever-arm 26, which lever-arm isfulcrumed eccentric to the axis of the gudgeon 25; a stud 27 on thelever-arm 26 being mounted in a suitable bearing on the frame of thecarriage A. The friction disk 24 has a sprocket wheel 28 formed integraltherewith around which an endless sprocket chain 29 passes. The chain 29extends downward and passes around a sprocket wheel 30 formed on the hubof one of the truck-wheels 2. It will be seen from this that thefriction disk 24 will be rotated continuously when the truck-wheels 2are revolved by the carriage A being drawn across the ground.

Means are provided for normally holding the friction disk 24 out ofcontact with the disk 23, which means are here shown as consisting of ahelical spring 31. This spring 31 is connected to the upper end of thelever-arm 26 and exerts a backward pull thereon in such manner as tonormally retain the disk 24 out of engagement with the disk 23; theconveyer and the accelerator thus being normally retained out ofoperative connection with the driving mechanism.

f As a means for throwing the disk 24 into driving engagement with thedisk 23 and thereby cause the conveyer and accelerator to operate as thecarriage A moves forward, a rod 32 is attached to the upper end of thelever-arm 26 and is carried forward and connected to a foot-lever 33, insuch manner that by depressing the lever 33, the arm 26 will be movedforward so asto throw the engaging surface of the disk 24 into operativecontact with the disk 23.

The operation of the invention is clearly apparent from the foregoing,it being manifest that, by throwing the lever 11 forward, to lower theouter ends of the rake-teeth 5 into contact with the ground anddepressing the foot lever 33, a forward movement of the carriage A willcause the hay, or other material to be stacked, to move upward on theteeth 5 and deposited on the conveyer, the accelerator and conveyerbeing rotated in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 1, by theaction of the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The hay isdischarged over the upperend of the conveyer into the hopper B where itis collected, to be finally discharged by the opening of an end gate 34.This gate is hinged at its upper end and swings outward at the bottom.Draw bolts 35-36 are slidably mounted in straps 37 on the gate, as shownin Fig. 5, and are adapted to be thrown into engagement with straps 38on the frame of the carriage A to lock the gate in a closed position. Alever 39 is connected to the inner ends of the bolts 3536, the boltsbeing attached thereto on opposite sides of the fulcrum point in suchmanner that they will reciprocate in opposite directions in relation toeach other as the lever 39 is operated. The lever 39 may be actuated inany suitable manner to unlock the gate 34 and permit it to swing open.The bottom of the hopper B slopes downward from the upper end of theconveyer and terminates at the bottom of the carriage A a short distanceabove the ground; the inclined bottom causing the hay deposited thereonto slide therefrom when the gate 34 is opened.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. In ahay-gathering machine, the combination of acarriage, a rock-shaft thereon, a series of rake-teeth mounted on said.rockshaft, a revoluble shaft mounted on and carried beneath saidrake-teeth, a series of radially disposed, curved blades mounted on saidrevoluble shaft, said blades adapted to extend between the adjacentrake-teeth, and means for raising and lowering said revoluble shaft toraise and lower the outer ends of said rake-teeth.

2. In a hay-gathering machine, the combination of a carriage, arock-shaft thereon, a series of rake-teeth mounted on said rockshaft, arevoluble shaft mounted on and carried beneath said rake-teeth, a seriesof radially disposed, curved blades mounted on said revoluble shaft,said blades adapted to extend between the adjacent rake-teeth, means forraising and lowering said revoluble shaft to raise and lower the outerend of said rake-teeth, a traveling conveyer leading from belowthe'upper ends of said rake-teeth to a hopper, means for moving saidconveyer through the running gear of said carriage, and means forrotating said revoluble shaft by the operation of said conveyer.

3. In a hay-gathering machine, the combination of a carriage, arock-shaft thereon, a series of rake-teeth mounted on said rockshaft, arevoluble shaft mounted on and carried beneath said rake-teeth, a seriesof radially disposed, curved blades mounted on said revoluble shaft,said blades adapted to ex-- tend between the adjacent rake-teeth, meansfor raising and lowering said revoluble shaft to raise and lower theouter ends of said rake-teeth, a traveling conveyer leading from belowthe upper ends of said rake teeth to a hopper, means for moving saidconveyer through the running gear of said carriage, means for rotatingsaid revoluble shaft by the operation of said conveyer, and means forthrowing the conveyer in or out of operative engagement with the runninggear.

4. In a hay-gathering machine, the combination of a carriage, arock-shaft thereon, a series of rake-teeth mounted on said rockshaft, arevoluble shaft mounted on and carried beneath said rake-teeth, a seriesof radially disposed, curved blades mounted on said revoluble shaft,said blades adapted to extend between the adjacent rake-teeth, means forraising and lowering said revoluble shaft to raise and lower the outerends of said rake-teeth, a traveling conveyer leading from below theupper ends of said rake-teeth to a hopper, upper and lower shafts overwhich the conveyer passes, means for moving said conveyer through therunning gear of said carriage, means for rotating said revoluble shaftby the operation of said conveyer, means for throwing the conveyer in orout of operative engagement with the running gear, said means consisting of a friction disk mounted on a gudgeon, a lever arm on whichsaid gudgeon is mounted, said lever arm fulcrumed eccentric to the axisof said gudgeon, a similar friction disk on the upper conveyer shaft, aspring on said lever arm for normally retaining the friction disk out ofengagement with said similar disk, and means for actuating said lever tothrow said first name-d friction disk into operative connection with thesecond named disk in opposition to said spring.

5. In a hay-gathering machine, the combination of a carriage, arock-shaft thereon,

a series of rake-teeth mounted on said rockshaft, a revoluble shaftmounted on and carried beneath said rake-teeth, a series of radiallydisposed, curved blades mounted on said revoluble shaft, said bladesadapted to extend between the adjacent rake-teeth, means for raising andlowering said revoluble shaft to raise and lower the outer endsv of saidrake-teeth, a traveling conveyer leading from below the upper ends ofsaid rake-teeth to a hopper, means for moving said conveyer through therunning gear of said carriage, means for rotating saidrevoluble shaft bythe operation of said conveyer, means for throwing the conveyer in orout of operative engagement with the running gear, said means consistingof a friction disk mounted on a gudgeon, a lever arm on which saidgudgeon is mounted, said lever arm fulcrumed eccentric to the aXis ofsaid gudgeon, a spring on said lever arm for normally retaining thefriction disk out of engagement with a similar disk on a shaft formoving the conveyer, means for actuating said lever to throw said firstnamed friction disk into operative connection with the second named diskin opposition to said spring, a hopper disposed beneath the upper end ofsaid conveyer to receive hay discharged therefrom, and means foremptying the hopper of the hay collected therein.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

THOMAS S. HAMILTON.

Witnesses HARRY BOGGIS, E. C. GRISWOLD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

